The queen. Photograph: Kerry Taylor Auctions
Forget Lucrezia Borgia: Randavalona I makes her seem like a saint. Crowned Queen of Madagascar in 1828 after the suspicious demise of her husband, who she likely poisoned, she promptly executed all of his family members in order to establish her reign.
What followed was a reign of unimaginable cruelty. Ranavalona proceeded to shut her kingdom off to the outside world, banned Christianity, and made owning a Bible a capital offense. Foreigners were expelled, and executions became a daily occurrence.
Her favorite? Boiling people alive by lowering them into pits and pouring scalding water on them. Others were fed to dogs, starved in the jungle, or thrown off cliffs. Even minor crimes netted one a menu of terrors: burning, boiling and live burial.
In 33 years, an estimated 2.5 million human beings died under her rule, more than half the population of Madagascar at the time.
She lived to be 83 years old, and died peacefully in bed.
Westeros? Amateur hour.